Meeting with Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University, on the&nbsp;future of the Central European University, in the EP in Brussels.&nbsp;Arrival, shakehands and statements by Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Brussels

meeting

EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (T)

EU - Hungary (T)

Future of the Central European University: extracts from the meeting with Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University, What is at stake is that this will be for the first time since 1945 in Europe that a member state of the European Union sought to close down a free university. And that's a serious matter. It involves fundamental issues of human and European values.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University, We are a Hungarian institution proud of the part we've played in the Hungarian academic life and we are also an American institution. We are like a citizen with two passports. We have a Hungarian identity of which we are immensely proud, we are accredited some of our programs are accredited in Hungary and most of our programs are accredited in the US. We have students from a 120 countries who come to Budapest because Budapest is a wonderful city, a much respected seat of learning with an enormously important intellectual tradition of which we are proud to be a part, and they come to Budapest to get a Master or a PhD degree accredited in the US.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University, We are a university with a European identity that is a Hungarian identity, accreditation in Hungary but also accreditation in Middle States and New York States. What the legislation is saying is that you got to choose between those identities, you can't be both. You can stay in Hungary as a Hungarian institution under, essentially, the authority of the Orban government but you can't issue Master and PhD degrees accredited in the US. And since people come from a 120 countries just to study in Budapest and then get an American degree it's an attempt to split an institution that is not two institutions is one institution with two passports. They are asking us to choose between passports and we simply refuse. It's a fundamental matter of academic freedom because the university cannot choose what degrees it offers, it doesn't have the freedom it requires in order to function properly.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael IGNATIEFF, Rector of the Central European University, What academic freedom truly is, is the right of free institutions to govern themselves free of state interference and the interference of those who finance it. Academic freedom has two sides, you have to be free of government and you have to be free of those who pay the bills. And we can honestly say we are free both on those dimensions. But that's the stake, European society depends critically on the capacity of institutions to govern themselves freely.